Denver’s offense seems to disappear early this season

DENVER — Oh, where, oh where has the Denver Broncos offense gone? Oh where, oh where can it be?

Has it gone to Texas along with former Broncos offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak? Was it sent to Baltimore where Mike Anderson, Denver’s leading rusher from a year ago now resides?

Was it lost along with Jake Plummer’s confidence in the AFC Championship game of year ago?

Whatever the cause, there is something seriously wrong with the Denver offense and it is not just Plummer.

At times watching Sunday’s 9-6 overtime victory over the Kansas City Chiefs at Invesco Field at Mile High was like flashing back to the days of Dan Reeves when the Broncos offense seemed so vanilla it made me hungry for an ice cream cone.

It was like watching a football ballet. You know. One, two, three, kick. One, two, three, kick.

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What makes it scary is that it seemed so unlike Mike Shanahan. Uncharacteristically, the Denver Broncos coach admitted that he “dialed back” the offense and put the pressure on his defense to win the game.

It has to leave fans wondering if Shanahan has lost confidence in Plummer. Of the first 22 offensive plays Shanahan called, only nine were passes and only two pass plays were called in the first quarter. On a key third-and-five with under four minutes to go in the game, Shanahan ran a sweep to Bell. That’s not exactly showing a lot of confidence in Plummer to make a play.

About the only play Shanahan let Plummer loose on was the 24-yard pass to Javon Walker in overtime that set up the game-winning 39-yard field goal by Jason Elam.

When asked after the game if the offense was held back at all because of Plummer’s mistakes last week against St. Louis when he had three interceptions and a fumble, Shanahan admitted it played a role.

“I think a lot of it had to do with our turnovers,” Shanahan said. “Any time you have turnovers like we did, you can’t win football games. Any time you turn it over five times, you don’t want to just expose your offense and start throwing it down the field. The defense had a pretty good pass rush, so we did what we needed to do to win.”

Let’s hope the man who has been known as a risk-taker on offense won’t suddenly become the Rush Limbaugh of coaches and go conservative.

Not only could he lose any confidence Plummer has left in himself, but it could affect the confidence of his entire offense. Shanahan has always been aggressive, especially early in games.

Walker even admitted that he was a little frustrated with the conservative game plan, especially early on.

“A receiver always wants the ball early to get in the groove of things,” Walker said. “I did get frustrated a little bit because when it comes down to maybe an overtime or a critical third or fourth-down play, I know a play needs to be made. But sometimes I have got to get the ball in my hands and get in the groove of things and I have always been like that. I feel if I can catch a couple passes (early) then I am a part of the offense in the middle of a game.”

Still, it is not only the passing game that is suffering. Denver’s running game has not been the dominant machine fans are used to seeing. While Denver averaged four yards a carry and starter Tatum Bell averaged just more than four a carry, most of that average was helped by his 20-yard romp in overtime. At half-time, the Broncos averaged only 2.5 a carry.

Plummer knows the Broncos have too much talent to be floundering as they are on the offensive side of the ball.

“I don’t have any answers yet,” Plummer said of the Broncos’ offensive woes.